Carmel Valley resident selected as first executive director of Women’s Empowerment International

San Diego-based nonprofit Women’s Empowerment International (WE) recently announced Carmel Valley resident Paige Bradley as its first executive director.

Bradley brings two decades of experience in the nonprofit, political and communications arenas to the role, where she will oversee efforts to double the organization’s funding of poverty alleviation programs by 2020. Bradley most recently worked in Paris, France, as a fundraising director for Sport dans la Ville, France’s leading nonprofit serving at-risk youth and families

Bradley joined WE, a 550-member organization, on Sept. 6. She will oversee WE’s microloan and other poverty-alleviation projects for impoverished women in Uganda, Honduras, Haiti and Mexico. WE also supports the STAR Center, a City Heights business incubator through which poor San Diego women have launched 282 local businesses.

“Paige has that important mix of fundraising skills, communications strengths, passion for social justice, and international experience that matches our ambitious vision of greatly increasing the breadth and impact of our help to impoverished women,” said WE President, Winifred Cox.

A Los Angeles native and UCLA graduate, Bradley worked as a political consultant, fundraiser and campaign strategist in San Francisco and Silicon Valley for leading figures such as Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), former Rep. Lynn Schenk (D-CA), the California Democratic Party’s Clinton/Gore re-election campaign, and the Women’s Technology Cluster.

In Boston, she served as development director at NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, a 20,000-member grassroots nonprofit; and at Grub Street Writers, one of the nation’s leading literary arts centers.

In France, Bradley consulted with international organizations including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the International Energy Agency (IEA); and the American Chamber of Commerce in France where she co-created a mentoring program for women entrepreneurs.

“Women make up nearly 70 percent of the world’s poor. These are hard-working mothers and grandmothers struggling to care for their families,” said Bradley. “Women’s Empowerment is changing lives and communities here in San Diego and around the world by enabling these women to access the vital resources and training they need to start sustainable businesses. It is incredibly important work and I am honored to join Women’s Empowerment as its executive director.”

Since receiving its tax-exempt status in 2005, WE has raised close to $1.5 million, funded poverty alleviation projects in eight countries, and has a 2020 goal of funding a half-million dollars to projects that help women out of poverty. This is part of a global effort to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030, changing the lives of nearly a billion people who live on less than $1.25 a day.

For more information, visit www.womenempowerment.org.